UAB linebacker Marvin Burdette, shown in a preseason practice, is leading the country in tackles per game.Birmingham News file photo

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - The normally humble UAB linebacker Marvin Burdette got some motherly advice on Sunday after he jumped to the No. 1 spot in the country in tackles.

"My mom told me last night, 'I know you're humble but people work hard for things and it's well-deserved,'" Burdette said, after getting 24 tackles in the Blazers' 55-45 loss at Tulane on Saturday.

The 24 tackles were a UAB school record, and if back-to-back games of 17 tackles each in the previous games against Houston and East Carolina weren't impressive enough, Sunday's game was one to make history. It gave Burdette 104 tackles for the season, a nation-best 13 per game.

UAB (1-7, 0-4 Conference USA) is at Southern Miss (0-8, 0-4) Saturday at 6:30 p.m., and college football fans can watch Burdette in action as the game will be televised by Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS). Burdette is 19 tackles away from tying Zac Woodfin's UAB career record of 372.

"It means a lot," Burdette said. "I've been constantly talking to my mom and a lot of people and teammates. It's like they're more excited for me than myself.

"It goes to show that I'm standing tall and holding my own. I may not show it, and I guess it is the humbleness in me, but I am proud of myself. You don't have to be gloating about it to be proud."

It's an honor that isn't lost on UAB head coach Garrick McGee.

"I told our guys, 'We have someone sitting in the room with us that is doing something at the highest level,'" McGee said. "He's making more tackles than anyone in the United States of America. We have an example of what it looks like to play at the highest level in America."

Even with his monster effort, Burdette wasn't given the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week honor. That went to Houston defensive back D.J. Hayden, who had two interceptions - one for a 97-yard touchdown - in the Cougars' 45-35 win over UTEP.

But Burdette doesn't need an award, which is voted on by media members, to reach his current milestone.

"It's different, not necessarily that he is getting recognition - he has earned this," McGee said. "To be the top tackler in the country, you have to go out and play at a certain level consistently, certain level of effort and understand what it takes to be in position to make tackles and at the moment of truth, you've got to put the ball carrier on the ground.

"This is one of those honors that he has earned. It's not something someone has voted on."